The Tennen Rishin ryu is a traditional swordsmanship school, codified during the Kansei Era (1789–1801) by Kondō Kuranosuke Nagahiro (or Nagamichi). There is limited information in regards to him: he came from Tōtōmi Province (today’s western Shizuoka Prefecture), but we do not know when he was born.
He visited many provinces for his musha shugyō, eventually becoming a member of the Kashima Shintō-ryū. Even though he would have most likely been appointed as a teacher of this style, he left the Shintō-ryū aiming to create a new sword based combat system.
In fact, during those years the Japanese swordsmanship gradually evolved from the rigid katageiko (form practice performed with either bokutō or with dull-edged swords called habiki) towards a free practice called shinaigeiko (also known as gekiken).
This kind of training allowed two practitioners to spar without the risk of severe injury thanks to bamboo swords (shinai) and armors protecting the head (men), the arm (kote), and the torso (dō). With some exceptions, the popular gekiken of the second half of Edo period was quite similar to modern Kendō.
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